Big Spring Jam is Dead… again. Long Live Big Spring Jam!

In an entry entitled It’s official: No more Big Spring Jam in Huntsville and posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, I predicted the demise of Big Spring Jam.

I sure hated to write that entry, just as much as I hate to write this entry.

Big Spring Jam is OFFICIALLY DEAD.

This year’s event Sept. 23-24 was only a last, gasping, wheezing, leg-twitching sign that the life had already left BSJ.

Why?

According to Don Jennings, the event’s organizer, co-founder, partner and promoter, and Brandi Quick, Assistant Director of the Von Braun Center, a paltry 30,000 people attended BSJ 2011, compared to a record 240,000 in 2003.

What and who killed BSJ?

After 18 good years, the Big Spring Jam was killed by Huntsville City officials – chief among them Mayor Tommy Battle. As I wrote earlier, “city officials FAILED to consider how construction on the VBCC and the ever-expanding footprint of Big Art Museum could have affected the nearly two-decades old event. No insurance claims, no-fault, no loss…” What is even more painful – salt in the wound – is that the Huntsville Times also FAILED to investigate the city’s LACK of planning for annual events.

The event’s official obituary was cobbled together by Huntsville Times writer Sara Cure:

“The annual Big Spring Jam returned to downtown Huntsville in the latter part of September after a one-year hiatus caused by construction at Big Spring International Park and the Von Braun Center’s renovations. The Jam downsized from three days to two, featured a smaller variety of musical acts and moved the country stage inside the VBC’s Propst Arena. Ticket prices for reserved seating inside the arena were also increased.”

Read also: Told ‘ya so! Big Spring Jam DOA posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, April 16, 2010.